


There's Nobody Wiser, Not When It Comes To

by MrAdequateBar



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Alana has good intentions, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Connor is trying his best, Evan is apologetic, Gen, Jared is a dick, LISTEN these two deserve more attention, Suicide Attempt, Zoe is proud, growing and strengthening Murphy sibling dynamics, its about PROM, let Connor and Alana be friends 2k18, only referenced though, the q slur and the F slur
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 06:07:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14847227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrAdequateBar/pseuds/MrAdequateBar
Summary: After a mortifying event at junior prom, Alana Beck opens up a window for Connor Murphy; metaphorically and literally.





	There's Nobody Wiser, Not When It Comes To

April 29, 2017

The punch was a weird purple color, the balloons were already deflating, and half of the students at Washington High School Junior Prom had discarded their shoes for the dance floor.

Alana stood at the door, welcoming stragglers to the prom. As junior class vice president, it was her job to organize the attendance of such events, and she did so with pride. Every so often, some jock would walk in and fiddle with her purple galaxy bowtie, which she promptly had to fix in annoyance.

Alana knew the names of almost everyone that had come through the door, which most people might’ve found embarrassing, but some thought was endearing. Alana liked those people. They were kind to her, some of her best acquaintances.

Eventually she spotted Jared Kleinman walking in with some girl she’d never seen before on his arm. Behind them was a fidgety, sweating Evan Hansen who looked like he’d rather be anywhere else in his suit.

“Hi Jared.” Alana said as he walked by. He didn’t look at her. “Hello Evan.” she said, disregarding Jared’s ignorance.

“Uh-h Hi, Alana.” Evan said, giving her a wave and a sympathetic smile.

God. He really looked like he didn’t want to be there.

“Evan, hurry your ass up! God, you’re slower than the SPED kids.” she heard Jared exclaim. Evan followed the direction of the voice quickly.

Alana looked down. She really wished people wouldn’t say stuff like that. Besides, if Evan didn’t want to come to prom, why didn’t he just say no? Then things would be a whole lot easier for him and Jared wouldn’t have to say mean stuff like that.

Alana looked up at Sabrina, who was standing at the opposite door, and signaled that she was going off now. Sabrina nodded and welcomed some couple walking in that was matching in the most god awful green color Alana had ever seen.

The venue was a little smaller than the student council had wanted, but it wasn’t horrible. It was really intended to fit the junior class at their school, but they hadn’t accounted for dates from other schools.

Stupidly.

It was dark and cramped, and the kids were dancing to some trap song that Alana didn’t know. Looking around, she thought she saw every person she’d ever met on the dance floor, as the tables were empty with shoes and clutch purses strewn about. Alana saw Evan in a corner by himself, clutching to his phone, typing something as fast as he could.

Suddenly, the sharp pain in her feet became more apparent for no particular reason, and she sat at a random table to pull her heels off. If everyone else was doing it she could too, right? It was nonchalant until she heard a grunt from behind her and turned to see something she definitely wasn’t expecting.

“Connor?” she asked. The lanky teen looked up at her with an expectant face, willing her to say something. He was  _ actually  _ dressed up. The tie he was wearing was loosened around his baby pink shirt that was tucked into black pants, but nonetheless, there he was. Connor Murphy was at prom, instead of snorting cocaine in an alleyway like everyone had speculated.

“What?” he asked, pulling her out of her gaze.

“Oh- uh, Hi.” Alana stammered. “I wasn’t expecting you to be here! I’m glad you are here though.” she smiled, fading back into her up front friendly state once more.

“My sister made me come so she could be my plus-one.” Connor responded, leaning back into his chair, taking the front two legs up with him. Zoe was a sophomore, but she had lots of junior friends from AP English III, so coming to prom was her “right”, she’d claimed.

“Well that doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun.” Alana said. “It’s  _ your  _ junior prom.”

Okay, so she wasn’t going to leave him alone. Fine. He’ll play this game. “Great, a night where kids spend too much money just to spend four hours in a cramped building full of sweaty teens in itchy outfits dancing to music they’ve heard far too much of.” Connor snarked.

“Okay, in fairness, that’s all true.” Alana replied, giggling. “But you make memories that last a lifetime.”

“I don’t want to remember anything from high school. Everyone here is full of shit.” Connor retaliated. Alana looked down, rubbing at the palm of her hand absentmindedly.

“Oh.” was all Alana said. She knew she shouldn’t take Connor’s remarks personally, but it was a little hard when she was the only person he’d talked to that night. “Well, I’ll go.” she said, standing and walking off to another part of the room.

The night became a bit of a blur; Alana drank some punch, may have danced a little, ate some weird chips she’d never had (her Moma was allergic to gluten, so they didn’t have chips or bread or anything like that at home), and had talked to almost everyone in the building.

She was going over to sit down when she turned and was face to face with Connor, who was holding out her shoes.

“You uh, left these at my table earlier. I just saw them.” he said.

Alana took them and grinned. “Thanks.”

“I’m uh, sorry, about what I said. You were trying to be nice.” Connor said apologetically. Alana noticed that he seemed much more sober than he did earlier in the night.

“Thank you. I mean- I forgive you.” Alana replied. They were still stood awkwardly at the end of the table. A light bulb went on in Alana’s head. Out of impulse, she grabbed his hand. “Do you wanna dance?” She asked. On the outside she smiled, on the inside, she was hitting herself in the head repeatedly.

“Absolutely not.” Connor replied, cracking a smile.  _ That  _ was new.

“Aw,” Alana whined. “Nobody’s watching. Come on, it’ll be fun!”

Connor let out a sigh and looked around at the dancing teens. He spotted his sister in the crowd, dancing with her friends like there was no tomorrow. Her hair had been pulled up and her sleeveless pink dress flowed like waves. He’d always cursed his parents for making Zoe the pretty one. And the funny one. And the emotionally stable one. It was like they were trying again after the first one didn’t come out right.

“...Connor?” Alana asked, snapping him out of his daze.

He looked at her and stammered. “Uh.” He scoffed and threw an arm up. “What the hell. Let’s go.”

Alana squealed in a way that Connor thought only happened in movies and let her lead him out to the dance floor. It wasn’t until they reached it that Connor realized he had no idea how to dance. Like, sure, he took ballet classes until the seventh grade, something he was obviously teased for, but this was  _ teen  _ dancing. Completely different concept.

Eventually, Connor just copied what the other kids were doing, which was some sort of flailing mixed with sixties hop dancing. Eventually, Alana started to jump around and stopped when someone stepped on her bare foot. Connor knew he shouldn’t have laughed, but he did- endearingly, at least. He outstretched a hand and helped Alana regain her balance.

“Are you okay?!” Connor asked, still laughing.

“Yeah,” Alana said, “I’m fine. You’re laughing.”

Connor tried to stop, but cracked another smile, laughing again. This time, Alana joined, and no one noticed, because they were all too busy in their own worlds.

After one song ended, Principal Morris tapped on the microphone and called all the kids to attention.

“Hello! I sure hope we’ve all been enjoying our prom!” Morris said, receiving lukewarm clapping and distant cheers. “Well, it’s time to announce our Prom Court. Could our nominees for Junior Prom King and Queen please come to the stage.”

They watched as six kids made their way to the stage, smiling and waving at people as they made their ascent. Connor swore that one of the nominees for Prom Queen winked at him as she walked by, some cheerleader that had never spoken a word to him in their entire lives.

Connor noticed that Alana had grabbed onto his wrist to support her while she wobbled on one foot for a second. And… he let her. He  _ hated  _ physical contact, but something about Alana was… reassuring.

Principal Morris held up two envelopes, doing some lame dance with them while the nominees situated themselves onstage. “Alrighty then! Let’s get started. Ladies and gentlemen, your Prom King is, drum roll please…” no one drum rolled. Not even Alana. “Okay. Your Prom King is Samuel Ferguson.”

Rousing cheers from Sam’s teammates on the football and soccer and fencing and baseball and whatever other sports he played rang through the room while the tall and muscular kid standing closest to the stage stood to accept his crown. He winked at the audience and stood attentively while Principal Morris lifted the second envelope.

“And now, your Junior Prom Queen is…” he fumbled with the envelope and finally got it open, while Alana and Connor observed the student body waiting with baited breath. “...Connor… Murphy.”

And suddenly, Connor’s heart might as well have jumped off a building. The feeling of Alana’s hand latched to his wrist was all he focused on, as thousands of eyes turned to stare at him.

This had been their plan the whole fucking time. Obviously. He pulled from Alana’s grip and turned to leave, but had come face to face with two football players that were three times his size.

“Come on queenie, you gotta go accept your tiara.” One of them said, taking Connor’s arm. The other one took his other arm and easily overpowered Connor’s fighting. He eventually shook them off and gulped before taking one step up, then another, then another, and suddenly, he was facing all of his classmates. He walked past the snickering Prom Queen nominees, past his classmates wolf whistling, the few people making some choice comments about queers. He zeroed in on his sister in the audience. She looked right back at him. Her eyes seemed to say, “I’m sorry”, but he knew that was bullshit. He knew all of this was bullshit.

Connor didn’t come back into real life until something plastic was being placed on his head. He heard cameras clicking and didn’t speak. He didn’t retaliate, say anything, or try to punch anyone. He just stepped down the stairs and out of the room.

Connor looked at himself in the window of the lobby of the venue. The fucking crown was still on his head. He took it off and it clattered to the ground.

“Connor.” he heard, and turned to see Alana had followed him into the lobby. He could hear that the music had resumed in the main room. She reached out to take his hand, but he recoiled and glared at her.

“Don’t fucking touch me.” he sneered, pushing the doors open and racing to the car.

It had to have been at least an hour before Zoe got into the driver’s seat. If she noticed Connor’s tear streaked face, she didn’t say anything about it.

She did, however, stop at a fast food joint and she bought food that would probably give their mother a heart attack if she knew they were eating it.

_ When the siblings arrived home, Connor stormed up to his room, not saying a word. This wasn’t unusual to the Murphy parents, but Zoe explained what had happened at prom and they became more distraught. Well, Cynthia did at least. Larry left for his bedroom, muttering something about it not being surprising. Zoe clenched her fist so hard that she broke the skin of her palm, but she didn’t say anything to her father. It wasn’t the time. _

_ She sat on the edge of Connor’s bed for ten minutes before he lifted his head and noticed her. He tried to kick her out, but she simply said she was sorry, and that she didn’t know, and that she should’ve done something. Connor said she was right. She should’ve done something. Zoe cried that night. Connor did too. Zoe stayed up until three in the morning, scrolling through social media after social media, and nearly jumped when she received a text from Alana Beck, asking how Connor was. Zoe got up and went into his room, only for him to be sitting on his bed, cross legged, eyes red and puffy, novel discarded on the edge of his bed, and staring into oblivion _

_ This time, when she sat on his bed, he didn’t yell at her or kick her. When she took his hand, he didn't object. Nor did he object when she hugged him tightly, like they were kids again and they had nothing to worry about. _

_ The siblings fell asleep in Connor’s bed, with no complaints from either. They woke up and Zoe realized some of her makeup had smeared onto Connor’s grey pillowcase in the night. She got up and left without saying a word. _

June 2, 2017

Alana took a deep breath before knocking on the door. She was embarrassed to say, but she’d never really been invited to someone’s house to just hang out before. It was always study sessions and projects, which always turned into Alana doing the work while the other person perused through Tumblr for two hours.

A cheery redhead woman opened the door and smiled sweetly. “Oh, you must be Alana.”

“Hi, Mrs. Murphy.” Alana said awkwardly.

“Oh please, call me Cynthia. Come on in, dear. If you could just take off your shoes there.” Cynthia pointed to a mat where there were four other pairs of shoes. Converse with the white parts all drawn over, some very old Doc Martens, a pair of pristine white sneakers, and some black Oxfords. Alana guessed that big feet ran in the Murphy family, cause her Toms looked like Barbie shoes next to all the others.

Cynthia led her into a large living room where there was a leather couch and a flat screen TV and a glass coffee table with incense and real flowers that weren’t dead. It was like a paradise to Alana, who lived in a small apartment with her moms in a not so brilliant part of town.

She turned to see Zoe bounding down the stairs. “Hi Alana! Thanks mom!” she said cheerily, as to usher her mother out of the room. Cynthia seemed to take the hint and left, telling the girls where the snacks and bathrooms were.

Alana and Zoe sat on the couch together, chatting about the first few days of summer and what their plans for the rest of the break were.

“How’s your brother?” Alana said after a while. He hadn’t looked so good the last few days of school, and Alana didn’t have any time to go and talk to him.

“He’s… okay. Still not happy about prom.” Zoe said.

“I wanna talk to him. Apologize.” Alana decided.

Zoe cocked her head to the side. “Why? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I just… I think he thinks I was in on it. Which I wasn’t. I wanna explain that to him. Make amends.”

Zoe scoffed. “If you wanna try to make amends with my brother, be my guest. But honestly, I think he’s dragged it out for too damn long. He’s in his room upstairs. He doesn’t have a door cause our dad took it off.”

Alana slowly stood and walked up the carpeted staircase, admiring the pictures on the wall as she walked. There were pictures of Connor and Zoe as babies, as well as family photos and candids. Zoe with a soccer trophy. Connor with a dance trophy. Zoe playing a guitar onstage. Zoe as a smiling eighth grader on her last day. Zoe, Zoe, Zoe. More than anyone else. It was… telling.

The room with no door on it was black and covered in posters from various bands and authors. The first thing that caught Alana’s eye when she looked in was the George Orwell quote above the bed, but she supposed that shouldn’t have surprised her.  _ Happiness can exist only in acceptance. _

Before she stepped into the room, she knocked on the side of the wall, to which the lump on the bed shifted and groaned. “Fuck off, Zoe.”

“Uh. It’s not Zoe. It’s me, Alana. Alana Beck, from- from school?”

Connor lifted his head and Alana giggled slightly at his bedhead. His eyes went wide when he realized it actually was her and he gave her a face she couldn’t quite decipher.

“What the fuck do you want?"

“I wanted to talk to you. To apologize.” Alana responded.

Connor rolled his eyes. He was silent for a second, but he saw the remorse in Alana’s eyes.  _ No one  _ looked at him with remorse. It was always disgust. Or fear. “Whatever. Come on in.” he groaned, sliding up so Alana could sit on his bed.

“I’m really sorry about prom. I didn’t know that was gonna happen.”

“Sure.”

“Honest to God, I didn’t. I-I would never do that to someone else. I swear.”

“Right, got it, so you just stood there while I was humiliated in front of our entire class.”

“Why are you? I followed you out! I tried to be there and you pushed me away.”

“What if I didn’t want you to be there?”

“Goddamnit Connor, I’m trying to be your  _ friend  _ and you’re making it really difficult right now!”

Connor was silent. He chuckled. “Why would you want to be my friend?” he asked, smaller than he’s ever been.

“Because… cause both of us could use one.” Alana responded. “No one deserves to be alone.”

They sat alone together for a few minutes, before Connor sighed and pointed at the door. “You should go.”

Alana nodded, letting out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She stood, walking back downstairs to the couch to watch some shitty reality TV with Zoe.

A few moments later, they were joined by a Connor who now had his hair brushed and was dressed in a plain grey t-shirt and black sweatpants, and he sat down on the other side of Alana from where Zoe was.

“What took you so long, you ass?” Zoe asked.

“I had to brush my hair, and put pants on.” Connor responded, his eyes not leaving the TV.

Zoe looked at him. “And why weren’t you wearing pants before?”   


Connor scoffed. “Wearing pants in my own home? I don’t condone that kind of behavior, Zoe.”

July 6, 2017

“Sure, sure, but it doesn’t explain why Aunt May looked like Madame Martin.” Alana said. Connor nearly choked on his soda and had to put it down while he laughed silently. The family from the other side of the restaurant were giving them weird looks, but they didn’t care in the least.

The two were in a relatively small Japanese restaurant that was across the street from the movie theatre, having just come from an eleven o’clock showing of the new Spiderman movie. Alana’s moms and Connor’s parents had both agreed to let them go because they were thrilled their kid finally had a friend, but were a little skeptical of them being out so late. Especially Larry, who just barely trusted Alana’s baby face and probably thought she was a drug dealer.

“You know, I thought Aunt May was kinda hot until you said that,” Connor remarked.

Alana gawked. “Wow Connor, I never took you as one who had a thing for older women.” she laughed as Connor hit her on the arm lightly.

“Shut up.” he laughed out loud.

It was astounding to Alana. It was probably the late night kicking in, but she’d never seen Connor laugh and smile this much… ever. She was sure Zoe would go into shock if she saw her brother laugh. She kind of still thought they sat in dark alleyways and read Edgar Allen Poe because that was the only thing she could envision her brother doing.

A waitress approached them just as their laughter died down.

“And what can I get for the young lovebirds tonight?” she asked.

“Oh, no-” Connor started.

“That’s not-we’re-uh-” Alana stuttered.

“We’re not dating.” Connor said. Alana gave him a silent look of thanks.

“Oh. sorry. Uh, well, what can I get you guys to eat then?” she asked, her face slightly red.

October 27, 2017

“Who willingly goes on runs anymore? Especially surrounded by people. It’s just an open invitation for your peers to laugh at you.” Connor snarked.

Alana and Connor were stood on the sidelines of a taped off running trail, bags of loose chalk in their hands. Washington High School’s Annual Color Run Halloween Fundraiser was something that happened every year, and something had willed Connor and Alana to go. Probably the fact that Alana was on student council and had to help run the event, and her insisting that Connor needed to do something other than sulk in his room his entire senior year.

“You’re only saying that because you’ve never run in your life. Or left your bedroom, really.” Someone remarked. Connor turned to see none other than Jared Kleinman standing next to them.

Connor turned to say something, but Alana beat him to it. “Where’s your boy toy, Jared?”

Jared scoffed. “Funny joke. Are you talking about Evan? Because he’s not even my friend.”

“Sure. Run along now, there’s a garbage can somewhere with your name on it.” Alana replied.

Jared rolled his eyes and mumbled something, walking off.

Connor looked at Alana. “That was… kinda mean? Awesome, but also mean.”

“I learned from the best.” Alana said. “Come on, the run’s about to start. I have a bet placed, so this is important.”

_ Alana won her bet, and also twelve whole dollars! She and Connor, along with about twenty other people from their school, invaded a Waffle House after the fact, and while it was far too many people for Connor to be comfortable, he and Alana sat in a back corner and kept their interactions minimal. Nobody looked at Connor weird, and some actually said hi to him. That night, he realized that maybe senior year wouldn’t be so bad. _

December 12, 2017

“Who are you and what have you done with my brother?!” Zoe exclaimed as Connor climbed into her passenger seat. 

Connor frowned as Zoe put a hand to his head, but she didn’t notice. His hair was short and smooth, a golden caramel color that matched Zoe’s own hair color. Well, her natural hair color. Right now her hair was a blonde/blue/pink fusion that Connor had fully expected to turn into a muddy brown mess, like his hair when Zoe had tried to dye it his freshman year, causing him to have to grow it out. It just seemed like Zoe had all the luck in the world.

Not right now. Connor was trying to be less jealous and paranoid, but sometimes he fell back into his thoughts and couldn’t escape until someone heard him crying in his own darkness.

The snow was pretty this time of year, and the golden hair and natural tan of the Murphy siblings was a bit of a contradiction that left their extended family laughing.

Zoe smiled and let her family ooh and ah over her, but Connor sat in the corner, mainly. His baby cousin had approached him with a smile and some sort of toy; everyone had expected him to ignore it, but Connor smiled back and took the toy the child was trying to hand him.

“Thank you.” Connor said, trying not to laugh.

The holiday was uneventful and honestly, boring. Connor was given a Rupi Kaur book and a whole lot of gift cards, plus knick knacks he knew he’d never use. Zoe got an excessive amount of clothing that looked uncomfortable and also very unfashionable, which made Connor snicker, which made Zoe give him a scarily convincing death glare.

_ After the last of their family members left, Zoe and Connor drove down to the Goodwill and gave them some nice clothes that someone would love. They felt a little bad about it, but at least it had the opportunity to be bought and worn here, as opposed to sitting in the back of Zoe’s closet. Afterwards, they went to the mall and ate more trash food, and bought some clothes Zoe would actually want to wear. They had spent a good twenty minutes making fun of the clothes in Forever 21 when they ran into one of Zoe’s friends from band. She said hi and introduced the siblings to her aunt who was a senior in college. She smiled and talked kindly, and she and Zoe left lingering glances at each other that made Connor wonder if maybe they were more than friends. _

_ When they parted, Zoe’s friend hugged her and surprisingly took Connor in for a side hug as well. Zoe apologized on her behalf, claiming that she was very touchy-feely, but Connor was just shocked that someone had voluntarily hugged him and been nice to him. _

February 13, 2018

“You’re going to fall eventually, and I’m going to laugh.” Alana said. She was slightly concerned, but also very entertained, as she was Snapchatting Connor jumping from tree branch to tree branch. The park was big and desolate as no one really came to parks anymore, especially not in early February, when it was still colder than a witch’s tits.

“I  _ am  _ Spiderman, and I do as I please.” Connor said, hooking his legs over a branch and hanging upside down. Alana reached forward and poked Connor’s now exposed stomach, to which he groaned and then laughed.

“My one weakness! I need to get a tighter suit, honestly.” Connor joked. “How could you, MJ?!”

“Really? MJ? I always thought I’d be more of a Ned.” Alana said. She’d put her phone in her pocket and was helping Connor sit up, since his face was turning red.

“I guess. Hey, you be whoever you wanna be.” he replied.

_ Connor had come a long way. People still called him the “school fag” and someone had written “queer ass” on his locker twice, but he didn’t retaliate now. Sometimes Alana wished he would do something, like go to the guidance counselor or someone who could calm the situation down. _

_ They’d talked about sexuality a couple times. It wasn’t something Connor particularly enjoyed talking about. Alana assumed it was a family thing. He told her about when Zoe got a girlfriend in the eighth grade and suddenly he was the favorite son again, until about two weeks later when they broke up and he was kicked to the curb once more in favor of his sister. _

_ He said he didn’t know about his sexuality. He figured he’d just fall in love with who he fell in love with, and that’d be it. Alana agreed. It was calming to be able to tell someone she could trust. _

“God, I look like a t-” Connor started, but was cut off by the sound of a thump and a crack from the distance.

“The hell was that?” Alana said. Connor hopped from a low sitting branch and they wandered toward the sound, because neither of them paid close enough attention during scary movies.

When they emerged into a clearing, they saw the source of the thump.

It was their classmate, Evan Hansen, lying on the ground, with the wind knocked out of him.

“Oh my God!” Connor exclaimed, running toward him and taking his arm, trying to help him up.

“What the hell happened?” Alana asked, wincing when she tried to grab Evan’s other arm and he yelled.

“F-fell.” he said.

“Like that wasn’t obvious.” Connor remarked. Alana gave him a look that said “shut the hell up please” and Connor responded with a look that said “I say what I want”.

_ They’d gotten him into Alana’s car and to the emergency room. That’s when they met Mrs. Hansen, who hugged them both and thanked them profusely for helping her boy. Alana asked how he was. He’d fallen on his arm and broken it, but was mostly fine. After thanking them about nine more times, Mrs. Hansen told them they could leave whenever they wanted. Alana wanted to stay and see how he was, but Connor suggested they leave. This wasn’t their business, and hospitals made Connor fidgety. _

March 20, 2018

The warm light that swam through Alana’s bedroom window was dimming as the sun set, giving her the perfect view of the purple sunset. She was on the final page of yet another John Green book that ended with some sort of “twist” end that she’d known about since the beginning. Why did she subject herself to this? Oh right, she’d already finished the  _ Hitchhiker’s Guide _ series and she’d ordered the next Rick Riordan book, but it hadn’t come in yet. Apparently science fiction was Alana’s thing, but no one else really knew. Except for her closest acquaintances. 

_ Friend.  _ She remembered. They were friends. It was a weird feeling, to have a friend. She liked it.

Speaking of her friend, her view of the sunset was suddenly blocked by a familiar lanky figure knocking at her window.

Alana rolled her eyes and went to go unlatch the window and let him in.

“You couldn’t come to the front door like a normal person?” she asked.

“Nope.” Connor responded, holding out a single lavender rose to her and sitting on her bed.

“Okay, now I’m curious. What’s the event?” She asked. Connor smirked and handed her an envelope, which was white and had her name scribbled on it in crayon. 

Alana opened the envelope and giggled at the sparkly card with Spiderman on it that said “ _ You don’t need spidey sense to see that five is a totally great age to be!” _

She gave Connor an incredulous look, but his face didn’t change. She opened it to see Connor’s scraggly handwriting, but at least she could make it out.

_ Okay, so I lied. This isn’t a birthday card, because it’d be about twelve years late and that would make me a total dick friend. It’s a promposal. What a weird word. It sounds far too commercial for me to take it seriously. _

_ Anyways, what about prom? _

Alana looked up at him and smirked. “Really? You sure you wanna go to prom? After…”

Connor shrugged. “What’s the worst they could do? Vote me Prom Queen?”

“And then  _ Carrie _ you.” Alana remarked. “What will you do then?”

“Kill everyone with my telekinetic powers, duh.” Connor said.

“Don’t say that at school. There is definitely more than one motherfucker at that school who would take that seriously.” Alana warned him. Connor nodded.

April 11, 2018

OK, so no one expected Alana to be nominated for Prom Queen.

And absolutely no one expected Connor to be nominated for Prom King.

Nonetheless, that’s what happened.

Sitting in first period Environmental Science with jocks slapping him on the back and girls waving and congratulating him was just about the weirdest thing that had ever happened to Connor, like he was in some sort of alternate universe. 

And Connor didn’t know whether he wanted to be in this universe or not. It was nice to not have people glaring at him or spitting on him, but Connor was never a fan of attention. Luckily it took about ten minutes for everyone to all but forget about it and go back to sketching leaves or whatever they were doing that day.

Alana’s seat partners in Current Events, two girls named Natalie and Lilla, squealed when Alana’s name was said over the loudspeaker and immediately started to gush about how they should campaign for her win. Sure, Alana liked these girls, but she wasn’t close to them. She wasn’t close to anyone.

Except for maybe two people.

Even though the sheets in front of them were about prison reform, the only current event anyone wanted to talk about in class that morning was prom, prom, prom.

Alana caught Connor’s eye in the hallway that afternoon and made a beeline for him.

“Did you nominate me? No!” they said in unison. Scratch their nominations,  _ that  _ was the most “out of a movie” thing that had happened to them that day.

They were laughing about the coincidence when Zoe approached them, books clutched to her chest.

“I swear to God you guys are living in a fucking Taylor Swift music video.” she guffawed.

“Early Taylor Swift.” Connor corrected. “Like, fuckin,  _ You Belong With Me _ or something. That’s the one with them communicating through the window, right?”

Alana scoffed. “At least the dude doesn’t climb into her window.”

“ _ Connor,”  _ Zoe started, “Do  _ not  _ tell me you’ve climbed into Alana’s window.”

“Only a time or twelve.” Alana answered.

April 28, 2018

“Oh, okay, wait, let me get a picture!” Maia Beck cheered as her daughter made her entrance to the living room of their apartment. Her dress was blue and white, and the brown braids she’d had in since the beginning of the year had been abandoned in favor of mainly brown box braids, with some navy ones appearing every now and again. Obviously Zoe had been rubbing off on her.

“Well, looks like someone knows how to clean up.” Connor snarked as Maia took about a million pictures of Alana.

“I could say the same to you.” she retorted. Connor was in a black suit with a ribbon around the collar instead of a tie. Connor had insisted it looked ridiculous, but Zoe said it would look “different” and “fashionable”.

From behind Connor, Mackenzie Beck tumbled in with a camera of her own and smiled up at Connor, fixing his collar. “Oh you both look so cute! I can’t stand it!” 

Alana’s moms had grown quite fond of Connor over the year, which was something Connor appreciated, considering that his father was not the biggest fan of Alana. His mother was just glad to see her son getting along with someone.

After about one hundred and four pictures, the Becks were ready to usher Connor and Alana out the door.

“Now remember sweetheart, we’re leaving for conference while you’ll still be at prom, so use your key and don’t throw any parties. And remember to eat, sweetheart.” Maia said endearingly, waving them off as Alana’s car pulled out of the apartment lot.

“What conference are they going to this time?” Connor asked.

“Oh- uh, I actually don’t remember the name of this one. Whoops. Guess I’m not too observant.” Alana giggled. Mackenzie was a motivational speaker, and while she usually stayed in D.C. for work around schools and on the National Mall, sometimes she was called away for conferences in other states. Those weekends, Alana spent working in the living room instead of her bedroom, and turning up the TV as loud as she wanted it.

The music was far too loud once they reached the prom, but neither of them minded it. It was in the same place it was last year, and as Connor walked into the prom next to Alana, he flashed back to one year ago, when he’d stormed out of the building in anger, leaving Alana stranded in the lobby.

He regrets doing that every day. But now, they were making up for it. Because it was their senior prom, and  _ damn it,  _ they were gonna have fun.

Sabrina gives Alana a hug at the door and waves to Connor excitedly, and suddenly the two are immersed in a wasteland of abandoned punch cups and sweaty teens, dancing to a song that for  _ once,  _ Connor recognizes. He sees Evan Hansen sitting in a corner, not fidgeting or sweating, but just sitting watching. Connor waves to him, and Evan waves back.

_ Evan had thanked Connor and Alana for helping him in the park a few weeks before prom. He seemed grateful for more than just them driving him to the hospital and calling his mom, however. Later, in the summer after their senior year, Evan would reveal to them and Zoe during a brunch he’d been invited along to that he jumped out of that tree in an attempt to take his own life. They thanked him for telling them and invited them back to the Murphy house to play video games and watch shitty reality TV, and the four spent the afternoon together, like friends would. _

The music was loud, the lights were louder, but the smile that crossed Connor Murphy’s face might’ve been the loudest thing that night. He tried to dance again, but stepped on Alana’s feet more than a few times, but it was okay, because no one was watching them. No, everyone was in their own little world, having fun, because they wouldn’t have each other in a few weeks.

It turned out that time really did fly when you were having fun, because before they knew it, Principal Morris was tapping on the mic and smiling out at his senior class. His smile was a little creepy, but all the students knew he meant well. Principal Morris was a fun loving guy, even if he was a little out of the times.

“Hello ladies and gents, how are we enjoying prom so far?” he asked, and the cheers thundered around the room. Principal Morris’ eyes lit up and he smiled even bigger than before. “It’s time for that special announcement and the placement of plastic crowns; Prom Court. Can we please have the nominees for King and Queen come to the stage?”

Connor inhaled sharply, and neither he nor Alana moved until he felt someone push them lightly, and when he turned to see it was some classmate from his Environmental Science class giving them a thumbs up, he smiled and offered his arm to Alana as they walked up to the stage.

Okay, so, being on stage was still terrible to Connor, but it wasn’t as bad when there were people smiling at him. He didn’t know them all, and he was certain that not all of them knew him, but no one was glaring or laughing at him.

Principal Morris cleared his throat and stepped up to the mic once more, lifting his envelopes excitedly. He tore open the first one. “And your 2018 Senior Prom King is…” he sat in suspense for a moment, and made a face that made everyone laugh.

Connor buried his face in his hands, shaking his head. He felt the other two guys next to him clapping him on the back but it wasn’t until he looked over at Alana smiling at him and looked to the back of the room to see tiny Evan Hansen cheering that he walked forward and let someone place the plastic crown on his head. 

He just laughed at his classmates who were clapping; mainly girls he’d seen walking down the hall or in class but only talked to once. The Nice Jocks™ were hooping and hollering, while The Bad Jocks™ just folded their arms and smirked. Connor looked up to make sure there were no buckets above his head waiting to drop pig’s blood on him. Once he knew he was in the clear, all fear left him, and he was simply… euphoric. 

It definitely would have been a disappointment to Old Connor for something as stupid as Prom King to make him so happy, but so what? What was ever wrong with a teenager enjoying “stupid” things like Prom King and football games and climbing trees and making fun of shirts in Forever 21 and criticizing Marvel movies? Nothing, Connor resolved. He was seventeen, and he had a right to enjoy it.

“And now, for the queen.” Principal Morris said.

Zoe was right. He was living in a Taylor Swift music video. All year, he had been. This was the finale, where the two weird friends were Prom King and Queen, and all they had to do was laugh and enjoy themselves.   
  
The tiara matched Alana’s dress, Connor noticed. She was regal. He wondered how many people could say they had a queen for a best friend. But honestly, he didn’t care.

As Connor and Alana walked down the stage steps to rejoin the congregation, they heard someone gawk from somewhere in the room.

  
“Aww, how nice of the student body to vote the beards King and Queen. A step forward for the queers of Washington High.”

“Hey, you know what? Shut the fuck up, dude. Gay jokes have never been funny.”

The two turned to see some guy who was  _ actually  _ wearing a letterman jacket  _ over _ a dress shirt and tie. Standing next to him, was a very defensive and ticked off Jared.

“Gay jokes… I like it. That’s what they are. Jokes.”

“I know  _ I _ am. But most people don’t like to be called jokes by asshat jocks who are gonna end up working in a Seven Eleven.”

“You callin’ yourself gay?”

Jared lifted his hands in defeat. “Is that not what I just said? God, if you can’t get that through your skull…”

Alana laughed and walked with Connor to the dance floor. Some people they’d seen through the school walked by to say congratulations and when Alana started jumping and doing her weird version of dancing, others joined in.

It was late, and people were leaving the venue. Prom committee members had started to clean off tables and sweep the floor.   
Before someone picked up the cooler, Connor grabbed three Sprites and went out to the lobby.

“Hey.” He said, handing one to Alana, who gratefully took it. Being the fucking gentleman he was, Connor had gotten her a drink and also held her heels when she got tired of wearing them three minutes into dancing. He looked over at the kid sitting in the corner on his phone. Connor whistled to get his attention. “Hey Hansen, get over here. I snatched some before they packed it up.”

“Oh, uh- okay.” Evan said, joining them and taking a drink. He was wearing dress pants and a baby blue shirt rolled up to the sleeves to not cover up the cast on his left arm. He was a bit embarrassed by the large, scraggly “CONNOR”, and not so much the smaller and more dainty “Alana”, but he didn’t feel like sweating all night in three layers over it.

There were still a good thirty people in the lobby, and some more out in the parking lot, but the three opted to stay in the corner to themselves. Evan was waiting for his mom, and the other two just hadn’t left yet.

Eventually Alana and Connor decided to leave for Alana’s apartment, saying goodbye to Evan and trotting out the door.

Someone whistled as they left the venue, and they responded by simply walking back to their car. 

They heard someone say “Wonder if they’ll keep up the tradition of Prom Court hooking up.”

Connor was gonna pretend like he didn’t hear it, but Alana turned to him before getting into the car and said, in an obnoxiously loud voice, “Oh yeah Connor, remember? My parents aren’t home tonight, so we can be as loud as we want!” and waited. Someone fake gagged and Connor tried not to laugh before hopping into the passenger seat.

Alana didn’t think she’d ever been as happy as she was to see her apartment. Connor changed into the clothes he’d brought and even though it was her apartment and all her clothes were there, Alana opted for shorts and one of Connor’s sweatshirts she’d stolen over the year.

“So, as loud as we want, huh?” Connor said as Alana sat next to him on the couch.

“Mhm.” she responded, grabbing the remote.

  
And so Connor and Alana stayed up entirely too late, eating junk and watching  _ Keeping Up With The Kardashians  _ at full volume.

**Author's Note:**

> LET CONNOR AND ALANA BE FRIENDS 2K18
> 
> also it wasn't until after writing this that I realized "unpopular guy gets voted prom queen because of gay jokes" was a subplot on glee lmao
> 
> also the convo between jared and insert random jock at the end is ACTUALLY something i heard at a school dance like two years ago
> 
> please be my friend on Tumblr it's @pigland3


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